“…I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed…”
Proctor shows he had the courage to tell Elizabeth and he was willing to accept the consequences of his actions. Proctor’s bravery in admitting his affair is admirable, though in the seventeenth century, when the play is set, adultery was a much more serious crime. People were a great deal more religious and, breaking one of the Ten Commandments would be punished more heavily than it is nowadays. Therefore a modern day audience would view this from a much different, less judgmental perspective than the seventeenth century characters of the play.
When Proctor is left alone with Abigail, in scene one, she tries to tempt him again, saying
“Give me a word, John. A soft word”
Abby wants John to give in to temptation, but Proctor stands up for himself, He says
“No, no, Abby. That’s done with.” And then later, “ …I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again…”
Miller makes Proctor continue to resist Abby’s advances and his determination is admirable, as the audience know he has succumbed to temptation before and he has now changed his old ways and declares that he would never do it again.
He also shows that his loyalties lie with Elizabeth, when Abby later retorts in anger, with a comment about his wife. Proctor responds
“You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!”
John won’t let Abigail slander his wife, and in my interpretation, this is because he feels guilty for the way he treated her, and is therefore very defensive of Elizabeth and will not allow anyone else to degrade her or treat her unfairly. His loyalty is greatly admirable in these circumstances, as it is known not to have always been the case. Proctor tears up Elizabeth’s warrant for arrest in a fit of rage in act two. It is to be admired that his love for his wife is so strong he is willing to destroy a legal document, in protest to the way she is being treated and her false accusation, made by none other than Abigail Williams herself. Despite John’s protestations Elizabeth is taken away in chains, along with fifteen other women.
Our admirabilty for Proctor grows stronger, as he realises, through Elizabeth’s arrest, that Abigail is jealous of his wife and uses malicious, spiteful ways of trying to erase her from the situation. When Proctor realises he may possibly save people if he goes to the court and, casting away his pride, admits to his affair, thus, Abigail’s spitefulness he has many good intentions to do so. Proctor tells the court
“…She wishes to dance with me on my wife’s grave…”
He then continues to tell them about his affair, all the while putting his reputation on the line, and publicly proclaiming his guilt.
Proctor is admirable in the way that he shows other people’s lives are more important than his own pride and personal reputation among the village. Proctor is willing to have his wife prove this so she may walk free but it goes wrong when Elizabeth lie’s to protect her husband’s decency. Telling the court
“My husband is a goodly man, sir” and when the court later asks if John has, to her knowledge, committed adultery she responds with a simple
“No, sir”
Just how far Proctor is willing to go to save lives becomes evident, as, he himself, then gets accused of witchcraft and thrown into jail. Proctor is putting his own life on the line for those of others, and this itself, is a saintly quality.
In Proctor’s final act of the play, he is being persuaded to sign a false confession of guilt to save his life. Reverend Hale says
“… Life is god’s most precious gift. No principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it…”
This is said to Elizabeth when they are telling her to persuade John to confess. Proctor tells her he is inclined to confess and, after Elizabeth tells him
“I cannot judge you, John.”
Proctor continues saying that the other people who have hanged, have been hanged innocent, but he feels he cannot do that as he has committed too much sin in his lifetime, John tells her
“Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.”
Proctor is saying that this lie will not spoil anything inside of him as it is already spoiled by other sin he has committed in the past. It is to be admired that Proctor feels so strongly and will face up to the bad that makes up his past.
At the end of the act Proctor vocalises his confession in front of the court, but is reluctant to sign his name to a written confession. He finally does, only to snatch it away from the judges at the last minute. Proctor gives the play’s most moving speech at this point, explaining why he is unwilling to sign himself to lies, saying,
“…Because it is my name, because I cannot have another in my life…I have given you my soul; leave me my name.”
This is by far the most admirable thing Proctor does in the play. At the beginning of the play Proctor’s pride and fear of public opinion forced him to keep his affair from the court, and promote the witchcraft hysteria. By the end of the play he is more concerned with how he feels about himself and his personal integrity than how the village see him and his public reputation. Proctor still wants to save his name, but for religious and personal reasons, rather than pride. The way Proctor behaves is deeply admirable and by the end of the play, John redeems himself for his earlier sins. As Elizabeth says at the very end,
“He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.”